Team Preview: Tennessee Titans

Vince Young wins games. Let’s just clear the air on that. Over the past two seasons, Tennessee has proven that you don’t need a top-tier quarterback to enjoy success. Since drafting Young after their dismal 4-12 season, the Titans put together an 8-8 mark followed by their 10-6 record en route to the playoffs last season. Young is 17-12 in his two seasons as a starter, a better record than Peyton Manning who was 16-16 in his first two seasons. Tennessee’s offense was plagued by a lack of supporting cast for Young, especially at wide receiver. In response, Tennessee brought back former Titan Justin McCareins, who spent the last five seasons with the Jets. Justin Gage, who posted a career high in receptions and receiving yards last season looks to be the other starter at wide out. The Titans also picked up free agent tight end Alge Crumpler to add some depth to their receiving corps. With these two additions, the Titans passing game, which finished 27th in the league last year, will see some improvement. Tennessee also finished dead last in the league in passing touchdowns with 9, the only team not to reach double-digits.

In spite of the failures of the passing game, Tennessee had the 5th best rushing offense last season, lead by LenDale White, a strong back who is constantly criticized for being overweight. While White may not be the leanest back in the league, he did tally 303 carries for 1110 yards and 7 touchdowns last season. The Titans offense as a whole tallied 17 rushing touchdowns, tying them with New England for 5th in the league. The Titans, who everyone expected to draft a receiver in the first round, selected speed back Chris Johnson out of East Carolina. Johnson has shown some flashes of brilliance so far in the preseason, and will provide an excellent compliament to White’s power running style.

On the other side of the ball, Tennessee boasts one of the best defenses in the league, finishing 5th in total defense last season. Pro Bowl tackle Albert Haynesworth anchors the middle of the run defense and Kyle Vanden Bosch, who lead the team with 12 sacks last year joins with newly acquired end Jevon Kearse to form one of the most formidable front lines in the league. Pro Bowl linebacker Keith Bulluck’s numbers dropped a bit last year, but he did have a career high 5 interceptions. The Titans run defense is one of the best, finishing 5th in the league last season, and they should only get better with the addition of Kearse opposite of Vanden Bosch. Tennessee finished last season 10th in the league in Passing Defense, holding teams to just under 200 yards per game. They also finished 7th in the league in sacks with 40.

Whether by land or by air, teams aren’t going to move the ball much against Tennessee and will wind up in low-scoring affairs, which plays to the strengths of Tennessee’s offense and allows Pro Bowl kicker Rob Bironas numerous opportunities to make clutch kicks. Tennessee was 8th in the league in scoring defense last season, with opponents only averaging 18.6 points per game. On the other side of the coin, Tennessee was 22nd in scoring offense, averaging only 18.6 points per game. Tennessee was involved in 10 games last season where the margin of victory was within one score. In these games, Tennessee was 7-3, accounting for 70% of their total victories. If some of these games had gone just slightly different, Tennesse would not only not have been a playoff team, but may have been picking in the top 5 of the draft this year.

To come full circle back to my opening point: Vince Young wins games. He may not have the best throwing motion or be the most accurate quarterback, but the guy wins. Tennessee isn’t a flashy offense like New England was last year, but they find ways to get it done and score when it counts. Vince Young was out-passed 10 times last season, but the Titans won 6 of those games, showing once more that solid defense and a good rushing attack is enough to win in this league. The biggest stat from the Titans last year was this: they were 8-1 in games where they had the leading rusher in the game. A strong running game coupled with a strong rush defense is a good key to clock control and winning games. If the Titans keep that up, they’re going to keep winning close games.

As I said with Houston, there is no mistake that the AFC South is the best division in the league. The Titans will have their work cut out for them. However, this team seems poised to either make a huge step forward and challenge Indy for the division crown, or take a huge step backwards and make a top 5 pick next April. With a majority of their key players back from last season, I wouldn’t be surprised if this team shocked everyone and pulled out a few big wins in division games. Then again, if the rushing game isn’t there and it falls on Vince Young to make throws to win games, this team is in trouble.

Ian’s 2008 Prediction: 9-7
John’s 2008 Prediction: 7-9